headgear blues

[josephine]

Hello all, it's been quite awhile since I checked in, but I'm still out here and still braced (1 year down, 1 to go!). Overall I'm thrilled with my progress, but headgear is driving me crazy.
Some months ago I was given headgear, and for a couple of months I did my best to wear it the 10-12 hours a day that was recommended. I then got really discouraged and stopped except for the occasional few hours. Now I'm concerned about how much of a setback I've caused. I know I need to talk to my ortho about this but I'd like to hear from the rest of you too. I think I can turn this around and get back in the habit again, but what I want to know is -- has anyone else here done this, i.e., flake on headgear wearing and then start up again? How did it affect your treatment? How often if ever have you taken time off?

[missingu]

It's really hard to say if not wearing the headgear would be responsible for a delay in treatment time. Perhaps you might have worn it all the time, but still things moved slower than anticipated so the time got extended. There are too many unknown variables to pin extended time specifically on not wearing headgear.

I can only speak from when I had braces as a teenager (let's just say that was a while ago). In that era we were expected to wear headgear 7x24, period. That meant to school, extracurriculars, etc. Some people really did, I would wear it to school and take it off in the bathroom, and not put it on again til evening when mom came home and then in bed. Even then I wasn't good with it.

Treatment time came in exactly on schedule, and the ortho never said a word.

Not that I recommend that approach, but reality was that 7x24 just didn't work for me and I did the best I could. It is all so individualized that one person's experience is hard to use as an example, but I figured I'd share. I'd suggest just doing your best from this point forward since you can't turn back the clock.

[OBG]

I wore hillpull hg as an adult and at times I was less than diligent in wearing it and asked my ortho about my treatment being extended because of my failing to wear it 12-14 hours a day. She was honest and said she would ideally like me to wear it 24 hours a day but she knew that was unrealistic. She continued by stating that her course of treatment included the wearing of hg and that I knew that going into the treatment. If I chose not to wear it that was my decision and that at the end of the treatment if the results were not what I expected then that was my responsibility.

She was correct and I did my best to wear the hg. I guess I would have had my braces off sooner if I had been a better patient but the treatment went well and the hg is but a distant memory.

Without wanting to sound pedantic, do the right thing for yourself and strap the hg on and let nature take its course.

[elissasmilz]

Back in September, I was fitted with a cervical hg that I was asked to wear "As much as possible." It took me a while to ramp up the time and as much as I hated it, I eventually got into a pretty good routine of just wearing it all the time when I am home. At my last appointment, my ortho decided he wanted to change the pull angle and thought that a combination headgear would be more appropriate. This took a whole new adjustment period but I still try and wear it all the time when I am home.

Hopefully in a few months, i won't have to even think about it any more, but for now, I just trudge through it. I hope you can too.

[josephine]

Thanks all for your encouragement! Just fessing up helped a lot. I've got the headgear on now and am working on increasing my hours again. I know I am a total wimp when I think of the people who have to wear headgear all day every day. And now I'm thinking I don't want to get to the end of my treatment and be unsatisfied, thinking if only I had worn that stupid thing . . . thanks again for the support.

[jennielee81]

My daughter wore her headgear religiously for the first few months, then I would find it on the table or in the bathroom or elsewhere when she was sleeping and I realized she wasn't wearing it anymore.

The ortho could always tell from one adjustment to the next how much she'd worn it...he could ALWAYS tell!! That makes me believe that it can easily effect progress. If it dosn't effect progress, what would be the point of prescribing it? JMHO

What happened in the end with her was that her over jet was not corrected when her teeth were finished (does that make sence?). Well, this is the interresting part, she is now in Hawley retainers and she is STILL IN HEADGEAR at night! Her ortho said she'd probably be wearing it at night for another year.

Is that weird or what? Oh, she wears it now!!! She wishes she'd not been so flakey about it before.

I'm glad to see that your confession made you more compliant! Keep up the good work!!!

[fins]

Hope you are progressing with your headgear. If it were me, I would try to squeeze in every possible extra minute while at home wearing it. I know its not exactly something you want to be out in public with. Wear it every night, just do the best you can. I didn't wear mine as much as my ortho wanted me to (this was when I was a kid). There are appliances now that you can wear (fixed appliances) and they do the work of headgear 24/7. They are amazing and if you feel the headgear is not working for you, ask your ortho about a fixed appliance. I much prefer the fixed appliance to headgear and maybe that is the right solution if you find it difficult to get the right number of heagear hours in.

[sharrsharrsheesheiya]

Hey there Josephine ,hello and thx for your nice words to me and here I've just discovered this section of the site and WOW you and I have soo much in common. I've got the big overbite prob and was in elastics with my braces but since the headgear I feel like so much more has been achieved--I was 15 when I first got it fitted and was told to try to do 16 hours each day, well some times I did less but made up by doing more over weekends, trouble was with only keeping it off while I was at school meant I got my hours in but it left NO TIME for other stuff, so I decided to try wearing it for school and then I could leave it off in evenings or out shopping on Saturdays--most of my friends at school knew about me having it so I decided one Tuesday after a holiday weekend to just take the plunge. I wore it going to school and got so nervous going in the gates and all morning I was asked a hundred questions about it so I was really pleased at lunchtime to just sit with my younger sisters and they sort of looked out for me, and on way home too. After I got home that afternoon I was not sure how I felt cos my nerves were shredded but I also felt good that I'd sort of stood up instead of hiding the thing. Well soon I felt ok about going on buses and out to town shopping wearing my headgear and its been like that ever since. My orthodontist was great and praised me up , and he explained how if I could do 23 hours or so each day there was much better chances of progress cos my teeth just don't get chance to slip back. After 2 years of this I'm probably on my final year and you know the weird thing is, once you get used to wearing it, so does everyone else and its not a big deal. Also its true if you have to leave it off for a bit like with a bit of damage or whatever your teeth can really hurt MORE. He says its cos they get acclimatised to the steady pressure. Well I'm sorry this is like a school essay but I just wanted to encourage you and say my experience is that the more you wear it the better it works, so if your doing this for yourself then GO GIRL give it a hundred per cent effort. Good luck anyways, and drop me email any time if you would like, love Sharrsharrsheesheiya

[josephine]

Sharrsharrsheesheiya you are so brave! Maybe it's because I'm older but I just cannot get myself out of the house with headgear on. Fortunately I work from home so I can put hours in there. But your story is inspiring!

[sharrsharrsheesheiya]

Hey there Josephine, great to hear from you cos since I first got here a few days ago I was so hoping we'd somehow be in contact. Thx for the compliments but really it was more a case of needs- if I hadn't taken the plunge and gone full-time wearing my headgear I guess I might be looking at a whole lot longer in the stuff, and there was the practical thing of effectively passing up on my social life or fail to get close on the hours, so I didn't really see much of a choice. Anyways soon after I got going out with my bfriend Simon, now my fiance, and he's been a huge support ever since. I really admire you adults though, cos to me it was just a stage in teen life, and at 15 as I was then I had a lot of stuff to look forwards to once all this ortho treatment is finished, but I'm so very very impressed at folks who are grown up and in jobs putting in all this effort for straighter teeth--WELL DONE one and all. Loving reading all the uplifting stories here, thx again, love Sharrsharrsheesheiya

[Clo]

Hi Josephine !

Since yesterday, I did join the group of headgear wearers. I did post here
a lot about all my elastics configurations I had. These were not able to
correct my bite (open bite and overjet). So my ortho wanted to start
retracting my uppers. We will try this using a cervical headgear first. If
that does not work, I'll need surgery. So I am very motivated to wear this
thing full time. Like you, I have a home office, so I can wear this almost
full time during a lot of days. BTW, I am 42 now. Looking younger though.
And the braces seem to pull that number even more downwards. Hey, as
my ortho told me he normally only uses this hg on teenagers, that may be
a sign . Maybe we can arrange a competition who had that hg in most
during say a week. Anyway, it is great to have here another adult needing
to wear such 'medieval device' ...

PS, I posted about my hg in the metal mouth section, even with a pic.

[sharrsharrsheesheiya]

Hey Clo nice to read your post and wow do I admire you. I mean I'm 17 and still in school, and my bfriend and family are so supportive and it really helps sooooo much, but to be an adult in a job and try with hg is awesome !!!!! I do get in average of at least 23 hours a day - my fiance makes sure the time off for baths, hairwash, hygene etc never gets extended by much, but I do notice that there is a weird ache when I have my hg off, and it goes away soon after its back in place, so I guess my bod is reminding me to be conscientious? All the best, love Sharrsharrsheesheiya